Rapid technological development puts employees to the test

Over the past decade, the labor market has changed faster than the law has often been able to respond. Increasingly, employees—whether judges, lawyers, policymakers, doctors, human resource or communication specialists, teachers, or others—need to understand how digital systems work and what legal risks, obligations, and liabilities come with them. Data protection, consumer protection in digital environments, platform liability, AI regulation, the validity of digital contracts, and cross-border service provision are no longer niche areas but part of everyday work reality. Can an automated decision be challenged? Who is liable when AI makes a mistake? Can AI threaten fundamental rights? Which country’s law applies to a digital service used across multiple member states? These are questions that employees must answer more and more frequently.

A large portion of rules concerning technology are not created at the national level but at the European Union level. The Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, data economy legislation, and the AI Act directly shape both business models and public sector solutions. Therefore, the labor market does not simply need lawyers or IT specialists, but people who can translate EU law into technological practice and vice versa. At the same time, increasing attention is being paid to issues related to the use of AI outside the EU, in the context of international law.

Technology law is becoming a tool for every professional

The labor market needs specialists who help design legally sound and responsible technological solutions. Without this, the digital economy cannot grow or develop. Companies need people who can assess regulatory risks already in the product development phase, not only after problems arise. The public sector needs officials who can procure and use technology in ways that respect fundamental rights and comply with the law. Individuals, in turn, need confidence that their rights will not disappear with digitalization.

This is where the role of technology law emerges as a fundamental skill for a future-proof labor market. It is not narrowly “IT law,” but rather the integration of private law, EU and international law, fundamental rights, and technological thinking. A technology law specialist must understand contracts, liability, and international dimensions, but also system architecture, automation, and data-driven decision-making. This combination is increasingly in demand in today’s labor market.

Estonia’s strength has so far been its courage to experiment and use technology in public services and business. The next leap in development, however, requires that this courage be accompanied by systematic legal awareness. For example, in the rush to digitalize, we must not forget that there are groups in society who cannot adopt new technologies as quickly—due to age, disability, or economic circumstances. Another example is the risk of AI-based discrimination. Still, technology law is not a brake on innovation, but a prerequisite for it. Without it, a false opposition arises between innovation and law, even though in reality they support each other.

If we want Estonia’s labor market to remain competitive in ten years, we must treat technology law not as a side field or specialization, but as an integral part of a modern lawyer’s professional competence. In the digital economy, success does not belong to those who move the fastest, but to those who move both quickly and with legal certainty. For this, employers need employees for whom technology law is not a foreign language, but a natural part of professional decision-making.

How to study technology law and where it leads

At Tallinn University of Technology, lawyers specializing in technology law are trained at the master’s level within the law curriculum, with a major in techology law. Many students entering the master’s program come from law bachelor’s programs at other universities in Estonia and abroad, with a clear goal of specializing in technology law. Students from other fields who have completed the required legal prerequisite courses explain their choice by practical necessity—they work in non-legal roles where knowledge of technology law is essential. Within the university’s own bachelor’s program in law, the specialization in European Union and international law already builds a strong foundation in technology law at the first level of legal education. It is common for applicants to the master’s program to say that “during my bachelor’s studies, technology law became so interesting to me that I wanted to continue studying law in this field.”

There is no specific job title such as “technology (law) lawyer.” Positions where knowledge of technology law is required are often better understood in English than in Estonian, and job postings typically use English titles. Examples include in-house legal counsel, product legal counsel, risk and compliance manager or lawyer, and data protection officer. In the public sector, roles may include digital services legal advisor, AI use coordinator, or digital policy advisor. As a result, there is still some uncertainty in the labor market about what technology law means. However, once the field is explained, it almost always sparks immediate interest, and it quickly becomes clear how broad and diverse the work of a technology law specialist is.

In conclusion, when introducing the law curriculum at Tallinn University of Technology, it can be said that the technology law program does not merely teach legal rules, but a way of thinking increasingly expected by the labor market: how technology, law, and society interact. This is what makes technology law one of the most important future-proof core competencies for both lawyers and specialists in many other fields.

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